Wearing number 30, Michal Neuvirth played the position of goaltender while playing for the Washington Capitals during the 2010/2011 National Hockey League season. He reportedly earned $765,000 for his time on the ice. The total team salary for the Washington Capitals was reportedly $68,425,000, so his salary was about 1.1% of the team's total reported payroll. The median salary for a player on the Washington Capitals was $1,875,000. The average salary was $2,534,259. During the 48 games that he played that season, he scored 0 goals and had 0 assists - a total of 0 points. If we divide his reported salary by the number of games played, we find he earned $15,937.50 per game played. Michal Neuvirth had a plus/minus of 0, 0 PIM (penalties in minutes), 0 PP (power play goals), 0 SH (short-handed goals), 0 GWG (game winning goals), and took 0 shots. He had a shooting percentage in the 2010/2011 season of 0.00%. His goaltending statistics include 2689 min, 1283 SA (shots against), 110 GA (goals against), 2.45 GAA (goals against average), 91.40% save percent, and a record of 27-12-4, including 4 shutouts. If we want to try to evaluate his performance strictly as a goaltender, we can divide his salary by the number of shots against. His salary per shot against was $0,596.

But then, there are taxes. Each hockey season is played during two calendar years, however, given an annual salary in the U.S. of $765,000 we can estimate that he would have to pay $243,034 in federal income taxes. That is about the same amount of tax as the tax paid by 30 median high school teachers, 34 median police officers, or 48 median fire fighters. After paying the IRS, he would have $521,966 left over. However, he may still have to use some of that money to pay state or city taxes as well.

About the author

Author: Mark McCracken is a corporate trainer and author living in Higashi Osaka, Japan. He is the author of thousands of online articles as well as the Business English textbook, "25 Business Skills in English".